


Some Days in Preparation

by InterNutter



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Betrayal, Gen, Mind Manipulation, mind wipe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 08:32:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12678249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterNutter/pseuds/InterNutter
Summary: Lucretia had planned it all. Except for this particular part. Or how she'd feel afterwards.





	Some Days in Preparation

**Author's Note:**

> DIsclaimer: Only the words are mine. TAZ:BA belongs to the McElroys and the devilish idea belongs to @karfuckingstrider on Tumblr. You’re all beautiful.

Lucretia really should have remembered the adage,  _ No plan survives first contact with the opposition. _ She thought she thought of everything. She thought she had prepared for everything. She should have had backups on backups. She should have known that things could get messy.

She’d seen their best-laid plans go agley for one hundred years, after all.

She could hear them screaming. Davenport. Then Merle. Then Barry and poor, poor Taako. One by one, her friends were suffering and failing and falling. She kept telling herself,  _ This is a mercy. This is a kindness. They can be happy. _ This was for the greater good.

So why did she feel so…  _ evil? _

The last thing she expected was Magnus rushing in. “No…” he said. He had a carved duck in his hands. He’d painted it to look like her.

“Magnus, please- this is just for a little bit,” her tears almost blinded her, “I’m gonna stop this, what we’ve done to this world. I’m gonna find you a place where you can be happy again, it’s just for a little while, and then, you’ll remember, I promise.”

She could see his face changing. She could see the knowledge draining away from his eyes. She could see that he had taken pains to add her tight, blonde ringlets to his carved, avian effigy. Lucretia rescued it from his hands.

“Who are you?”

She put the duck in her pocket, hurrying to support his arm. He was going to go down like a ton of bricks. “I can do this Magnus, please,” she tried to urge him down to the floor before he hurt himself. “Please just lie down, I don’t want you to fall and hurt yourself.” He didn’t know her. He resisted. And he was way stronger than she was. “I love you, Magnus, I love all of you. I’m sorry, it’ll be over soon.”

He fell, head hitting the edge of her desk on the way down.

Now she was the only one conscious enough to scream. She hadn’t planned for this. She had thought they’d just fall asleep… And now there was no way to go but ahead. She was all she had.

Lucretia rolled Magnus over. There was a fresh cut on his face from her desk. Gooey and bleeding. It cut his forehead, slicing his right eyebrow in half, it missed his eye, but slashed his cheek. Nothing to be done about it now. She stripped his IPRE jacket off of him. Swapped his uniform pants and boots for more ordinary gear. Added his least-hated shirt to the ensemble. Used Levitate to move him to the staging area in the lounge.

Davenport got changed into his pyjamas and tucked into his bed. He would stay with her, because there was barely anything of him left.

Merle always defaulted to casual gear, and it was a matter of moments to ready him for his new life. Laying next to Magnus for now.

On to Taako and Barry. She rushed out to the deck where Barry had been trying and failing to find Lup. And there was just Taako. And a gap in the railing.

Taako was down. Hyperventilating. His hair was a frizzy mess and he was crying worse than she was. His eyes were still open. He was trying to fight. Trembling. Spasming.

Lucretia stroked his left ear and hummed the lullaby that Lup used whenever the twins’ sleep issues came to the fore. “Let it go,” she crooned in time to the melody. “It’s for the greater good. You won’t suffer any more. It’ll be over soon.”

The trick worked. His mismatched eyes rolled back. His eyelids fluttered closed. His hair uncoiled with a final sigh as his breathing steadied. And Lucretia broke down into straight-out sobbing. Curled around his body. Weeping into his robes.

There was nobody left who understood how painful this was for her. Nobody left to comfort her.

Lucretia forced her tears inside and readied Taako for his new life. Divested him of his uniform. Even the uniform hat that he loved to decorate with whatever he considered fancy at the time.

She’d never have been able to do this without the Miller family. They were already geniuses, but Lucretia’s knowledge base was one they were eager to utilize. And thanks to the levitating stretchers, she could even move around someone like Magnus with ease.

The first stop was Ravensroost. Using all the stealth she had within her to bring Magnus to his workshop in the middle of the night. Since he was wounded already, she had to improvise. She cut his shirt - it was in terrible shape anyway. Nicked his arms in defensive patterns. Added a slash to his belly that would not cause too much trouble. And left him lying halfway through his door as if footpads had left him to die. Then she upset his shop and took a few of the more expensive tools. Left the key on the floor as if someone had dropped it there.

He moaned. Coming out of Fisher’s influence.

Lucretia knelt and put her mouth near his ear. “You were attacked. You didn’t get a good look at their faces.” And then she cast Sleep on him.

Merle was next. There was a village of Beach Dwarfs and a storm was just retreating from the shores. They would think nothing of a shipwrecked hobbyist on the high tide line, wrapped up in seaweed.

He flickered near consciousness.

She told him, “You never saw the storm coming. It came out of nowhere. You were in big trouble even before you tried to make it to shore.” And cast Sleep.

It was getting close to dawn. She had set up Taako’s trailer in the middle of the night, not anticipating this much trouble.

Taako was looking extremely nauseated. He was going to be feeling mighty sick when he woke up. Good thing she had already prepared an empty bottle of Dankest Pit Moonshine. Taako had atrocious tastes in liquor when he wanted to get drunk on his own. Excellent, top shelf taste when anyone else was buying but him.

She laid him down as if he had got black-out drunk in the night. Left the bottle near his right hand. Combed out his hair because she didn’t want it to have tangles now that it had gone straight. Whispered in his ear, “You must have had something that disagreed with you, last night. The show must go on, all the same.”

Lucretia piloted the Starblaster to a safe hiding place and tore the IPRE patch off her own coat. That… that part of her life was over, now. She couldn’t stop worrying about Taako. She’d torn half his life to shreds. Edited out a good portion of his memories. He was almost as mentally injured as Davenport, still sleeping it off in the Starblaster.

So she made her way back to the little dirtwater town where she’d set up everything Taako could need. Fretting all the way. Was he too sick? Would he notice the Lup-shaped holes in his history?

He was running his cooking show as if he had done it his entire life. Showing off to the beautiful people of Mudwater Hollow.

She hung back  from the rest of the crowd. Watching him shine on the stage coach. Watching him prepare Elderflower Macarons, and smiling when he pronounced them ‘macaroons’.

He’d landed on his feet. He’d be okay.

She ran away just as he started going around with the free samples.

Davenport was awake by the time she got back to the Starblaster. Awake and confused. And he only had one word.

“Davenport?”

Oh gods, she’d destroyed him utterly. She fell to her knees. “It’s all right. I’m a friend, You... “ she hadn’t thought of a lie. “You’re an old friend of mine. I used to call you ‘Captain’ before the accident…” No need to explain what the accident was. He could guess that it was bad. “You… you work for me, now. And I look after y--”  her voice failed her. Her eyes stung.

He reached up and soothed the tears off her face and made her heart hurt. Even with everything gone but his  _ name _ … he was still Dadenport. Still looking out for his crew.

“Oh captain, my captain,” she sighed, lower lip wobbling with an overload of grief. “I’m so sorry.”

He found words. “No bleak horizons, kid.”

She answered, “Keep moving forward.” There was no other way to go.

*

“Holy shit! Are you okay?”

Someone rolled Magnus over. His head hurt. And he felt really ill. But all of that was forgotten when he opened his eyes. Because there was a vision leaning over him.

“Did I die?” he asked.

“No. You’ve taken a few hits, though.” Her hands were calloused with work, but gentle as she ran her fingers alongside the hurts on his face. “You’re going to need some stitches and some salve.”

“You sure I’m not dead?” he said, falling increasingly in love. “‘Cause I’m sure I’m looking at an angel.”

The way she scrunched her face up was pure cute. “Watch yourself, fantasy Casanova. I have a mean right hook and Daddy taught me how to defend myself.”

He offered her his hand. “My name’s Magnus Burnsides,” he said, “and I’d rather die than think about hurting you.”

She took it. “Julia Waxmen. Welcome to Ravensroost, smooth talker.”

*

Merle woke up trying to throw up. Maybe he swallowed some seawater. Or a jellyfish. There were some very small sandals right in front of his eyes. Girly ones with little, leather flowers.

A child’s voice shouted, “WE GOT A BREATHER, MOM!”

A stick poked him.

“Ow,” complained Merle.

The kid was maybe four. Six at a stretch. Dwarven and unbearded, so definitely young. She had glasses and a naturally owlish stare. “Hey, mister,” she said. “Are you gonna die?”

He groaned. “I feel like I want to,” he said. He picked seaweed off of his arms. “Where am I?”

“Roughridge beach,” said the kid.

A full-grown Dwarven woman joined the kid. “Well. You look lucky to be alive.”

“...storm came out of nowhere,” he managed. “There anything of my boat left?” He tried to sit up, and the nausea came on full force. He dry retched into the sand. “Sorry about that. Ugh. Name’s Merle Highchurch. Don’t mean to impose.”

“Hekubah,” said the woman. “Roughridge. And you seem like a bad sort to  _ me _ .”

He couldn’t argue. “Yeah, I got a bit of a past.” The nausea eased if he stopped trying to think too hard about it. He finally sat up and surveyed the beach. “This looks like a nice place to stay, though.”

*

Taako woke up feeling like he wanted to throw up every meal of his life. Which, considering his one hundred and forty-eight years, was a  _ fuckton _ of meals. He almost tripped on the empty bottle on his way out.

It was just past dawn and there was already a gathering audience. He mumbled something hurried and rushed past some young thing who was watering the horse. His mind devoted to the relative concealment of the bushes.

Nothing came up but burps and bile. For twenty. Fucking. Minutes. He clung to a handy tree as his body shook and his innards tried to turn themselves into  _ outwards. _ Managed to twist his hair into a half-hitch as he retched.

He was left trembling and drooling when it finally ran its course. Wiped his face on his sleeve. Turned and found an entire crowd of humans who were entranced by his beauty. A natural reaction, really.

He picked the closest one. The kid who had been watering the horse. “You look like an otherwise intelligent man,” he said without any sort of evidence whatsoever. “Where’s the good water at?”

He pointed.

Taako went that way. Maybe some water would soothe his roiling guts.

The kid with the water buckets followed him, so Taako introduced himself. Not that he really cared, but he asked the kids’ name.

“I’m Sazed,” he said. “Sazed Baker.”

*

Lucretia sowed the lands with agents. Ostensibly on the lookout for news of the ‘grand relics’, but also looking out for her remaining crew. There was no sign of Barry. She didn’t even know if he was alive or dead.

Taako was doing well. Roaming all of Faerun and showing off in his own, special way. He had earned fame and fortune. With luck, he would never miss what he didn’t know had ever been there. He rose to fame with ease.

And then… disaster.

Governor Kalen destroyed Ravensroost. Merle walked out on his arranged marriage and set himself up as a freelance cleric. Taako… vanished. There were forty deaths in Glamour Springs, and a burned Stage Wagon, and no sign of him.

For four. Long. Years.

And then, like a miracle, all three of them turned up at once. Heart-stoppingly familiar but so, so very different. Taako was… not the Taako she knew; there was no hint of warmth in his mismatched eyes, just cold calculation. Merle had no love of his family. Magnus… still had the scar from her desk. And many other scars all over. Someone had broken his nose, more than once, and now it was flattened into his face.

She wanted to cry. Howl. Beg their forgiveness, despite the fact that Fisher’s child was protecting them from a truth only she knew.

Ten years apart… and they were almost strangers.

But in those ten years, she had become very practiced at keeping a neutral face. She didn’t have a single Tell as she began. “Welcome, the three of you, to the Bureau of Balance.”

 

END!


End file.
